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214
HALO: FIRST STRIKE
"We jumped," she said, examining her reflection in the
arti-fact's mirrored planes. "But not to the Slipspace we know."
The Master Chief's radiation counter clicked and a shrill
alarm screamed through his helmet.
"Secure that, Anton," he said and nodded toward the glowing
stone. "Get it into the reactor compartment of the Pelican."
Anton relieved the crystal from Dr. Halsey, who only reluc-
tantly released it from her grasp. He sprinted toward the wrecked
Pelican.
"There was a radiation surge, Doctor," the Chief explained.
"And that thing is the source." The Chief noticed that the inten-
sity of the radiation did not drop off as Anton moved it into the
Pelican.
"Whatever it is," Dr. Halsey said as she scrutinized the
blue field outside their ship, "it warps space. When we first ap-
proached it in the great room, space curled around the crystal.
And again in the grav beam, it dispersed that field potential."
"And now?" Admiral Whitcomb asked. "This tiling is affect-
ing our passage through Slipspace?"
"Apparently so," Dr. Halsey said, and stepped next to John to
get a better look outside.
The Admiral joined her and watched as the Covenant ships'
turrets heated. "Can they even fire those things in Slipspace? If
they can, we're sitting ducks."
The Master Chief could make out more ships in the distance.
The Covenant vessels flickered, faded, disappeared, and then
reappeared in the fog. The nearest enemy Covenant ships fired.
Amorphous balls of superheated gas belched from their turrets
and accelerated toward them, tingeing the blue space purple.
The Master Chief saw Locklear as he helped Polaski out of
the Covenant dropship. He kept her hand in his, and they watched
together as the plasma sped toward them.
The balls of plasma streaked on—then curled and spiraled off
their trajectories. Several simply winked out of existence, only to
reappear somewhere else. The enemy shots raced up, down,
sideways—any direction but toward Ascendant Justice.
"What the hell is this?" Sergeant Johnson said and he stepped
next to the Master Chief to watch the display. "I didn't think their
ships could fire in Slipspace. Ours sure as hell can't."